Impact of Fire on the Geology of Soils Essay

2669 Words11 Pages

Fires are an important and healthy process in many ecosystems. The lack of fires can cause new plant communities to invade an area . The regular occurrence of fires can keep one plant community dominate, like oak savannas. Fires can leave burnt sticks the size of trees and clumps of charcoal where bunch grass use to grow, but not for long. An area that was burned will re-grow, grasslands will be green the next growing season and forests will typically show new growth soon after. Somewhere in the process of a fire the soil it travels over is effected. Alterations happen immediately after a fire passes over a soil and can continue years after a fire has gone. Soils are impacted in two main ways; by the entering of nutrients form the brunt…show more content…

The differences between the two may effect how the alterations of soil are disturbed, but both will undergo the same general processes.

The heat of a fire has many effects on the properties of a soil. The effects are not the same for every soil type because it depends on what is present in the soil before the fire. In my paper, I will be exploring different types of alterations a soil may undergo as a result of a fire. The three main areas I am going to look at are; change in color and structure, hydrophobic properties after a fire, and the alteration in nutrient cycles, in particular nitrogen. In conjunction with what changes occur to the properties of a soil, I will also be looking at management practices that can lessen the undesirable changes in soil.

Effects on soil color and structure

In heating most substances, change in color and texture or structure occurs, this generally holds true in the case of soils. A. L. Ulery and R. C. Graham (1993) did a study on how fire alters both color and texture of soils. The color of the burned soils tended to redden in hue and have higher chromas and values after burning, than did the unburned soil of the same type (Ulery and Graham, 1993). One reason that the color changed is most likely due to the translocation and transformation of nutrients and minerals in the soil. As the soil burns the heat alters individual minerals in the soil. The redder color in the soil was caused by an

Impacts of Global Climate Change on Temperature and Precipitation Patterns in the Midwest and the Consequences for Soils
Introduction
During the last century, human activities in agriculture, industry and technology have brought about a change in the chemical composition of the atmosphere. This change so far has not had a noticeable or discernible effect on world climate, but if these same activities continue, global climate change will become irreversible. The major contributing factor is…

contain almost 30 times the element known iridium than other clays. Iridium is mostly found in asteroids and extra-terrestrial objects. Based on these findings, the scientists now include two things as the cause of the K-T event. The first one is the impact of asteroids and the second one is massive volcanic activity. The asteroid that hit the earth is said to have released about 400 zettajoules of energy and thus it affected all the things that were happening in the environment. The dinosaur fossils…

University of Phoenix Material
Soil and Glaciers Worksheet
From Visualizing Earth Science, by Merali, Z., and Skinner, B. J, 2009, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Copyright 2009 by Wiley. Adapted with permission.
Part 1
Size grades of soil are named sand, silt, and clay, which includes colloids. Size grades are defined using the metric system. Use Figure 4.8 from the textbook to fill in the following chart. Specify the type and size and description of the particle. In some cases, particle size will be…

Introduction
African soils are extremely poor by nature, they consist of low organic matter as well as all major nutrients. Sub-Saharan Africa does not produce enough food to support their countries even in years of good harvest. Land degradation is exhibited as deforestation, decreasing biodiversity resources, soil moisture stress as well as soil erosion.
The following report will be assessing the socio-economic as well as the environmental impacts of soil erosion and land degradation impacts in the Ethopian…

simply a biological treasure; indeed the Galapagos Islands are among the best examples of some very important geologic theories and processes. While Darwin and the Beagle's five-week visit marked the first ever scientific study of both the ecology and geology of the Islands, they certainly would not be the last. From the science behind how they were formed in the first place, to the extrodinary evidence they present in favor of Continental Drift, Plate Tectonic Theory and the "Hot Spot" hypothesis the…

Fires are an important and healthy process in many ecosystems. The lack of fires can cause new plant communities to invade an area . The regular occurrence of fires can keep one plant community dominate, like oak savannas. Fires can leave burnt sticks the size of trees and clumps of charcoal where bunch grass use to grow, but not for long. An area that was burned will re-grow, grasslands will be green the next growing season and forests will typically show new growth soon after. Somewhere in the…

What is soil erosion?
Soil erosion is a natural process, occurring over geological time, and indeed it is a process that is essential for soil formation in the first place. With respect to soil degradation, most concerns about erosion are related to accelerated erosion, where the natural rate has been significantly increased mostly by human activity. Soil erosion by water is a widespread problem throughout Europe.
Soil is naturally removed by the action of water or wind: such 'background'…

Improved Airport Firefighter Rescue Training, Techniques and Equipment Can Mitigate The Impact of Post-crash fire.
Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF)
According to the definition of Wikipedia, aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) is a special category of firefighting that involves the response, hazard mitigation, evacuation and possible rescue of passengers and crew of an aircraft involved in (typically) an airport ground emergency. (Source: Wikipedia).
Aircraft emergencies both inside…

Have a Negative Impact on Soils
Soils are a vital resource to humans as without them there would be no
means to feed the world's growing population. However, the global
demographic changes are putting increasing pressure on farmers to grow
more and in response to this, more land is being used for farming and
the methods used to farm the land are not always beneficial to the
soil in the long term. Agricultural activities are the one of the main
causes of soil degradation…

Yellowstone National Park
Humans have had both positive and negative effects on Yellowstone National Park. Some of the negative effects have been vandalism, failure of park visitors to remain on marked paths and roads, and failure to extinguish fires. Coins, rocks, garbage, and other debris have often been found in the narrow vents of geysers and hot springs. This has sometimes caused a geothermal feature to become plugged which can disrupt its natural activity; often little can be done to restore…